Yichang Transportation

I took a boat from Chongqing to Yichang. It was a 1½ day boat ride and cost a whopping 6 FEC or US$1.80 for 3rd class which was a 4 bunk berth. It was nice. The other 3 guys in my berth didn't speak English and my Chinese consited of counting and asking for a toilet!! LOL interesting conversation "Where are the 5 toilets?" LOL There was a Dutch Guy named Ger on the boat so we were the only 2 non-chinese on the boat. We had an interesting stop in Wanxian! We had to walk along narrow planks for several hundred feet to get off the boat. I think we stopped somewhere around 8 PM. My guide book said that we would be departing at 4:30 AM so we thought we had plenty of time to search around. Wanxian is a beautiful town that is set up high on a cliff! So we had to climb lot's steep steps to get up there. Me and Ger found a small place to eat and we ordered beers then the guy at the table next to us started buying us beers and we started buying beers and we had a blast even though the other group didn't speak English! Finally at 12:30AM we made our way back to the boat ..Drunk trying to walk on those narrow planks!! Right after we got on the boat it left!! We got lucky! It didn't wait until 4:30 AM it was probably waiting for us! I don't have any pictures of this evening. It is only a memory now but what a memory!

It was an Awesome Trip!! We passed through the 3 Gourges! The trip was pretty fun. I found a few people on the boat that could speak some English. So we shared meals together and had some great chats that were mostly filled with smiles instead of words!!

I took the train out of Yichang. I took the train to Louyang from here. I loved riding the trains as most people were very friendly. My story about the purchase of the ticket for this train ride is sort of interesting.
Ger and I had a 4 person room on the ship down the Yangtze and one of the guys in the room spoke some English and was trying to be helpful to us....Well we ran into him again outside the train station so we approached him about purchasing us a tickets at the local price. Which he was more than happy to do. We gave him the money and he made the purchase...We were early for our departure and we drew quite a "Stare Crowd". This became too much for the station master and he didn't want us around being on display so he wanted us to get out of sight. So he asked for our tickets...Which started the problem for the guy that bought our tickets as he was still in the train station. He was very scolded by the stationmaster for buying foreigners the "local priced" tickets!! We had to pay extra to make up the difference of the foreigner price vs the local price and were placed on the train! Quite a weird experience!!

Everywhere I went in Yichang was on foot. I believe there are local city buses and taxis available. I thought this guys rickshaw was pretty interesting! He didn't speak English but he motioned to me to ask if I wanted a ride which I didn't need as I didn't know where I was going.(I was just wandering) But I did ask if it was ok if I took a photo which he was more than happy to pose for.

For those wondering off to the Three Gorge Dam you can rest assure that you don't need to take a cab all the way over there. Save your RMB's and take a bus. There are several buses heading there on a frequent basis. Just ask around for the bus line and go there. It's worth the time!

Well, there are several ways to get into Yichang. Perhaps the most common one is the river/dam cruises. With the actual Three Gorge Dam just a few kilometers away, Yichang has become an active participant in river travel on route to Chongqing. For those with more time, you can even take a bus or train. For those with less time, then why not fly? I flew out of Yichang and to Shanghai for a cheap and reasonable fare.

The cruise boat dock is not too easy to find. But one can take a taxi to get there. Since we booked our cruise via a ticket agent, the gentleman (carrying a suitcase down the steps) met us up at the airport and took us to the dock.

Do find the detail info/address of the dock which your cruise boat dock, there are several there.

The website below has info regarding bus, flight, and train info to/from Yichang and its vicinity:

http://www.chinahighlights.com/yangtzecruise/transportation/trains_wuhan.htm